Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — Imran Khan was thrown out of office as Pakistan prime minister Sunday after losing a no-confidence vote in the national assembly. The drama caps weeks of machinations by the opposition aimed at unraveling the tenuous coalition Khan built around his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to become premier in 2018. Following are brief profiles of the key players in the saga: – Shehbaz Sharif – The brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz […]
by Zain Zaman JANJUA and Nasir JAFFRY Agence France Presse ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — Imran Khan was dismissed Sunday as Pakistan’s prime minister after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament following weeks of political turmoil. A new premier will be chosen Monday, with Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Shehbaz Sharif almost certain to be picked to lead the nuclear-armed nation of 220 million people. No prime minister has ever served a full term in […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China is battling its biggest spike in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with millions under lockdown and the healthcare system feeling the pressure. One of the last countries sticking to a zero-Covid strategy, China aims to stamp out every infection with strict lockdowns and by sending all cases to secure facilities. That is placing a strain on China’s already under-pressure medical system, as the highly transmissible Omicron […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — China’s President Xi Jinping praised the country’s “tested” zero-Covid strategy on Friday, even as Shanghai authorities prepared nearly 130,000 beds for Covid-19 patients amid surging cases and mounting public anger. Until March, China had kept cases low with localized lockdowns, mass testing, and strict restrictions on international travel. But the country has reported thousands of daily cases in recent weeks, with economic hub and outbreak epicenter Shanghai placed under lockdown over […]
by Beiyi Seow © Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Shanghai’s grinding coronavirus lockdown is slowly clogging China’s supply chains, as delays hit the world’s busiest container port where staff are tangled in a morass of Covid controls. Beijing has refused to tack away from its strict zero-Covid strategy that has protected its public health system through the pandemic but at a mounting economic cost. China’s financial hub Shanghai — home to multinational firms […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan will move away from a zero-Covid policy and instead focus on tackling the most severe infections in an effort to live with the coronavirus, its health minister said Thursday. The decision leaves China — and its financial hub Hong Kong — as the only major economy still sticking to the strategy even as Omicron breaks through those defences. Taiwan has largely closed its borders and implemented strict quarantine rules […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A hardline former Hong Kong security chief sanctioned by the US for his role in China’s campaign against dissent resigned on Wednesday, kickstarting his expected bid to become the city’s next leader. John Lee, who oversaw the police response to huge democracy protests three years ago and a subsequent crackdown, will go on leave with immediate effect, according to a government press release. Lee, 64, has been widely tipped […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China and Ukraine’s foreign ministers have spoken for the first time in over a month, with Beijing maintaining its push for peace talks even as allegations of Russian atrocities in towns around Kyiv grow. International condemnation of Moscow has intensified in recent days with the discovery of dozens of bodies in areas around the Ukrainian capital from which Russian troops have withdrawn, though they have denied involvement in the deaths. China […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea will use its nuclear weapons to “eliminate” South Korea’s army in the event they launch a pre-emptive strike, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday. Kim Yo Jong’s warning, carried in state media, was her second angry retort in three days to comments made by South Korea’s defense chief Suh Wook last week. They come as North Korea has resumed its sanctions-breaking weapons tests with […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s parliament will convene Tuesday in its first session since a state of emergency was imposed as the country grapples with protests and mounting demands for the president’s resignation over a worsening economic crisis. Severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials — along with record inflation and crippling power cuts — have inflicted widespread misery across the island nation, which is enduring its most painful downturn since […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Twenty Ukrainians arrived in Tokyo Tuesday on a government plane with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi after his trip to Poland, as Japan cautiously welcomes those fleeing Moscow’s invasion. Japan typically accepts just a few dozen refugees a year from thousands of applicants, and while it has cracked open its doors to Ukrainians, it calls them “evacuees” rather than refugees. The 20 Ukrainians flew with Hayashi from Poland, where he was on […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Shanghai health officials on Monday defended a policy of separating babies and young children from their parents if they test positive for Covid-19, as frustration at the city’s tough virus controls builds. Around 25 million people in Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial centre, remain locked down as authorities try to snuff out the country’s most severe virus outbreak since the end of the first pandemic wave in early 2020. Under […]
